Juvenile Detention Staffer Reportedly Watched 16-Year-Old Gynnya McMillen as She Choked and Seized to Death

A new timeline published by WDRB’s Jason Riley demonstrates the level of careless shown to a girl who died in custody at Lincoln Village Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Kentucky.

A lawsuit filed on behalf of Gynnya McMillen’s family claims guard Reginald Windham saw McMillen choking and seizing shortly before her death, but did nothing. The suit claims Windham could’ve saved the teenager’s life if he’d taken action.

It was revealed in August that “former supervisors Reginald Windham and Victor Holt “knowingly recorded false information” on room observation sheets 15 and 17 times, respectively, on the night of Jan. 10 and the next morning, according to documents filed in their criminal cases on July 28.”

Windham, according to the suit, said he checked on Gynnya “to make sure she had not thrown up and was choking or something like that.” He looked through her cell door at 11:39 p.m. for 18 seconds, watching “her last gasps and dying breaths and final uncontrollable movements and seizure,” the suit claims.

A takedown technique known as Aikido, which is banned in Kentucky schools, was used to subdue McMillen.

A medical examiner ruled that McMillen died in her sleep of natural causes.